The Vampire Diaries Season 4: David Alpay Cast as Professor Shane

The Vampire Diaries will find itself with a new recurring cast member come the fall. David Alpay has joined the CW's paranormal romance series as new character Professor Shane.

Professor Shane is described as being "an attractive and charismatic believer in the occult who has a history with Bonnie Bennett (Katerina Graham) and her family," according to TV Guide. Uh oh... If The Vampire Diaries has to tell you that a character is charismatic, that probably means he's probably not entirely so. I don't know about you, but I'm getting total "bad guy" vibes from this new character's description. What do you think?

David Alpay is perhaps best known for his roles on the Showtime period pieces The Tudors and The Borgias, in which he appeared as Mark Smeaton and Calvino, respectively. He's also made appearances in the brilliant Canadian comedy Slings & Arrows, Dollhouse, Flashpoint, and Fairly Legal. He starred in this year's failed pilot Americana alongside Emilie de Ravin.

Season 3 of The Vampire Diaries left off with Elena being turned into a vampire by Stefan following a car accident that led to Alaric's death. The new season of the series will deal with Elena's tranformation, as well as the senior year of the students at Mystic Falls.

Alpay joins the ranks of other new season 4 cast members Phoebe Tonkin, Grace Phipps, and Todd Williams (who will play a vampire hunter).

The Vampire Diaries will return to the CW on October 11 with its season 4 premiere episode "Growing Pains."

Are you intrigued by the new character of Professor Shane? How excited are you for the return of The Vampire Diaries?